Their first potion
by Mila Balbi
Summary: Do you ever think of before? Before everything took place. Before James loved Lily. Before Lily loved him back. Well, Remus does. And he is not at all happy with what he sees. Ficlet. Remus&Lily. Hope you like it! Leave reviews.


Their first potion

Yes, we already met, Prongs. Long before you can even imagine. This is previous to our knowledge of your existence. When we didn't know anyone and no one really minded that happening. Me, the werewolf, her, the "mudblood". Professor Achlaudius was right when he paired us in that first class, it seems. Evans and Lupin. It should have remained that way after that one hour we've worked together. It's a shame we didn't realize it.

As I was saying, we sat side by side, not knowing for sure whether we were capable of preparing an effective potion.

"Have you ever done this?", I remember her asking me shily, but facing me with so much interest that surprised me and even got me taken aback in some level.

"Ever"

"Do you know how to do it?"

"Not either", I smiled.

"Until a while ago I wouldn't even have considered doing something like that", the little redhead seemed like she had been thinking aloud and laughed of the irony of her life, in the end.

"Things change", and so did I. I'm afraid I might have been too right. This is one of the few rare times when I didn't want to be, but still... I am.

We shut due to the beggining of the teacher's explanation; we were supposed to write it down on our parchments**. **I stared as she copied it eagerly, that letter made with all care, proper to girls**. **White skin with no remarkable scars, bitten nails, her large sleeve covering part of the hand I watched moving. Then she raised her eyes, the writing finished. I turned away fast enough, pretending to analize the instructions. We stood there, sort of in a lack of action for a couple of minutes. So she took the first ingredients in the list and started chopping and throwing them in the cauldron right after. I got another one of those weird named things and started working on them.

"Are we going to be silent until we're finished?", I can still hear myself ask. She looked at me. "It's fine by me, I was just saying"

"I don't know, it's just that you seem to be the quiet type, so I thought-"

She wasn't wrong, even if it was a long shot.

"What type are you?"

"You tell me. Let's see if you can guess it"

"On your own?", she didn't look as if she had quite understood what I meant. "The type that only gets involved if asked to, otherwise keeps distance...?"

Now she was measuring something and once again she began throwing it in the cauldron. The potion turned to a light color, almost white.

"So, Evans, what are your thoughts about Hogwarts?"

"The name is Lily. I'm finding it very... confusing."

"Me too." , we laughed. "It can't be only... confusing. Don't you have some other word?"

She had opened her mouth to answer, maybe with some other adjective, maybe not. I can't tell what she thought of the castle, because I never got to hear it. The Professor got to us from behind your girl, James, making her tremble with fright.

"What's this? Why is it that yours is almost pink?". A couple of ingredients later and it really was. The feedback I got from that is thinkable – not for the mistake itself, but because of the unconvencional color.

"Well, we haven't finished and-", she began, but got cut off suddenly.

"Anyway. It was supposed to be yellow by now. In no time it gets pink...", I  was stirring the blushed-cheeks-color-liquid avidly whenever I figured he wasn't looking, praying it would change colors that way, even if only slightly. All class saw it but him. This little detail ended up working as a "proof" of what would come next.

What happened was that he turned without any previous notice and I had to drop it all, completely clumsy. He looked at me, his eyebrows frowned, and then to the potion. He analized it for a second and stated, in a temper: "There's too much snails in here. Ten points from Gryffindor. From each of you."

"Hmmm-", she was once again cut off, only this time not by the teacher.

"Actually... I was the one who made the mistake. This is not enough reason for taking points. This is our first potion and-", I didn't know yet that it was impossible to argue with him like regular people and that I should've kept my mouth shut. But then again, no one could have told me that. I  didn't know anyone.

"Are you saying I'm unfair? You should leave, mister! No one defies me and gets away with it! It's a notice for all of you too, I say. However, I'll reconsider and take away only fifteen points"  

I bent down to get my stuff and the Professor went away to make somebody else's day miserable, after cleaning our cauldron with a flip of his wand. My partner got down with me, whispering while lending me a hand: "Why did you do that? It was me who missed it!"

"Nah! Don't you worry. I disliked the old man from the moment I entered his class anyway..."

Hearing that, she tried, unsuccessfully, contain her laughter with a hand.

"Well, you'll have to do it over by yourself. I'm sorry. Get our points back, ok?"

"No problem. But you're getting the best part, which is leaving this place the fastest!"

I smiled, my bag already on my shoulder.

"The prize is only for the best, m'dear."

And with that I walked away, crossing the room and out, feeling those green eyes follow me. I can't tell about the rest of that class and after it or if she did get back the points, after all.

Conclusion: yes, James, I know her from my first class, from my first day, from my first year in Hogwarts – she was the first person I met here.

And then I see the way she smiles up at my friend, so nice and happy. Maybe she didn't even remember that day the same way I do. And I don't say a word of what I meant to.

-No, I don't think so, Prongs. Pleased to meet you, Lily.

Yes. The prize is only for the best, m'dear.


End file.
